Zootecnica International

Indian poultry industry set to fly on export wings

Sun, 26 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

The poultry industry can look forward to better times now with exports looking up and appreciation in the farm-gate price of egg. The industry that had a roller-coaster ride last year is set to reap fortunes this year.

Mr P Selvaraj, Chairman, National Egg Coordination Committee (Namakkal zone), told Business Line, "Exports have started looking up. We are now shipping considerable containers of eggs to Afghanistan," although he declined to specify the quantity. On the domestic front too, egg prices are on the rise owing to a cut in production, a usual

Ghana: poultry farmers criticize Government

Sat, 25 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Members of Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers (GNAF) are unhappy with the neglect of the poultry industry by various governments in the country. The poultry farmers accused the current National Democratic Congress (NDC) government of failing to revamp the industry in fulfillment of its promise.

Dr. Yao Graham, Executive Director, Third World Network speaking on theme, 'Value Chain –the Poultry Industry vis-à-vis Employment, Import Substitution,' noted that the failure of the Mills administration to comment on challenges facing the poultry industry during his recent state of the nation's address indicated that the

What to do with the poultry industry in Botswana

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Botswana Agriculture officials are rightly quite proud of the fact after some 30 years the nation has been able to develop a largely self sufficient poultry meat industry and generally does not need to import either eggs or poultry meat from South Africa.

If the Department of Agriculture's statistics are to be believed Botswana now produces somewhere in the vicinity of 60,000 tonnees of poultry meat per annum.

This would mean that Batswana who are fast becoming urbanized are now consuming more poultry than beef on a per capita basis. But as economists

Pakistan: farmers seek steps for livestock revival

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Livestock and poultry farmers at a training workshop have demanded proactive steps for revival of livestock, poultry farming and fishery sector affected by flash floods in the province. They said that the farmers were facing enormous financial constraints to recover their livestock, poultry and fishery business.

The farmers expressed these views during a capacity building workshop held under auspices of Small & Medium Development Authority (SMEDA) funded by UNDP for its programme "Early Recovery for Flood Affected Areas of KP" here at Darul Ehzaz Takhtu Pull Mian Gujar outskirt village of Peshawar.

Price becomes even bigger factor for meat shoppers

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Price has always played a major role in the consumer's final decision when shopping supermarket meat departments, and that role appears to be growing, according to the seventh annual Power of Meat study, presented here today at the 2012 Annual Meat Conference, a joint production of the American Meat Institute and the Food Marketing Institute.

Most importantly, price per pound solidified its number-one ranking as the most important consumer decision factor, but total package cost is now the second most important factor that shoppers consider, making it more important than product appearance

New ways to gauge welfare in free-range hens

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Professor Geoff Hinch (University of New England) is researching new approaches to assessing welfare and behaviour of free-range laying hens. This joint University of New England/CSIRO project, supported by the Poultry CRC, harnesses behavioural demand techniques and judgement bias to measure birds' use of outdoor space and to find out how they 'feel'.

Determining a reliable, objective measure of welfare, regardless of the housing system, is an ongoing challenge for welfare scientists. This is especially true under free-range conditions, where there is considerable variation in the use of outdoor space between birds

UK fully compliant with cage ban

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

The UK egg sector is now fully compliant with the ban on conventional cages, with the last few remaining units now out of production, DEFRA has confirmed.

The industry had expected to be fully compliant when the new EU welfare legislation came into effect on 1 January 2012. But DEFRA told the EU Commission in early January that there were still some 32 UK producers using the old-style cages, housing over 400,000 birds.

Even though this amounted to just 1% of national production, technically it put the UK in the same position as

Brazil vows to take poultry fight to WTO

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

(South Africa) While the Brazilian chicken industry said yesterday that it would take the fight to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), local producers have vowed to prove that other imported chicken products do not comply with WTO rules.

This comes after the South African government decided to add additional charges of between 6% and 63% on imports of Brazilian chicken, which are the source of a dumping investigation.

Duties were added to boneless cuts and whole frozen chickens, reports BusinessDay.

Brazilian chicken association Ubabef's marketing relations manager, Adriano Zerbini, yesterday questioned the process of

Suguna to expand in south Indian market

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

India's number one broiler producer Suguna, the largest poultry enterprise worldwide today joins hands with Francorp, the unsurpassed leader of the Franchise Consulting Industry globally, associated with Franchise India which is Asia's largest integrated franchise and retail Solutions Company since 1999, for its franchise expansion in the south region of India.

Francorp will be liable to perform the review and recommendation of Suguna, which evolves franchise concept evaluations and framework development, studies on the existing franchise model of the client, structuring business formats and developing new franchise kit (brochure and flyer), franchise

Deaths continue, new strain outsmarts poultry vaccine in Vietnam

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

Thought bird flu was gone? Recent human deaths in Asia and Egypt are a reminder that the H5N1 virus is still alive and dangerous, and Vietnam is grappling with a new strain that has outsmarted vaccines used to protect poultry flocks.

Ten people have died in Cambodia, Indonesia, Egypt, China and Vietnam since December during the prime-time flu season when the virus typically flares in poultry.

"We are worried, and we will be very cautious," said To Long Thanh, director of Vietnam's Center for Animal Health Diagnostics in Vietnam.

The H5N1 virus has killed

Is poultry a top source of sodium?

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

"To name chicken products, let alone all of poultry, as one category that is a top contributor of sodium in diets is scientifically unfounded and paints an inaccurate and misleading picture for consumers," said National Chicken Council (NCC) Vice President of Science and Technology Ashley Peterson, Ph.D., in response to the latest Vital Signs report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

In its report, CDC listed "poultry" as one of the top sources of sodium in the diet, along with pizza, bread, snacks and other food items and categories.

"Poultry

The American Farm Bureau Federation opposes restriction on antibiotics

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

The American Farm Bureau Federation is lobbying Congress to oppose legislation that will restrict the use of antibiotics in livestock and poultry feeds. In their letter the organization stated "the Farm Bureau and its members use antibiotics carefully, judicially and according to label instructions to treat, prevent and control disease in their flocks and herds." Although there is a case for Veterinarians to administer antibiotics applying appropriate professional and ethical considerations, there is little support in Congress to retain antibiotics to promote growth or for preventive purposes.

The statement continued, "further, data

Plasma reduces harmful bacteria on raw chicken

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 23:00:00 GMT

A new study by food safety researchers at Drexel University demonstrates that plasma can be an effective method for killing pathogens on uncooked poultry. Although recent high-profile outbreaks of foodborne illness have involved contaminated fresh produce, the most common source of harmful bacteria in food is uncooked poultry and other meat products. The bacteria responsible for most foodborne illnesses, Campylobacter and Salmonella, are found on upwards of 70 percent of chicken meat tested.

Treating raw meat products to remove pathogens before they reach a consumer's home can reduce the risk of

Vietnam: Ministry inspects regional bird flu prevention, control

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:33:16 GMT

Seven groups from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are inspecting bird flu prevention and control in 48 cities and provinces as the disease spreads. The missions will monitor localities' prevention and control measures against the disease, including preparation of essential materials, equipment, chemicals and poultry vaccinations.

Inspection results will be reported to the ministry's Department of Animal Health before February 25.

According to statistics from the department, bird flu has been reported in six provinces of Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Soc Trang, Ha Nam, Hai Duong and Hai Phong.

The department warned that